Pat Buchanan on Tax Reform

2000 Reform Candidate for President

Tariffs are the best form of taxes

But tariffs are taxes, comes the retort of Libertarians. Tariffs raise the prices of goods. True. But all taxes--tariffs, income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes--are factored into the final price of the goods we buy. When a nation puts a tariff on
foreign goods coming into the country, it is able to cut taxes on goods produced inside the country. This is a way to give US manufacturers and workers a "home-field advantage." This was Hamilton's way and we have now abandoned it. And for what?

Source: Where the Right Went Wrong, by Pat Buchanan, p.172
, Aug 12, 2004

Tax imports & transnationals instead of small businesses

We’d reduce taxes and change the tax code. First off, you keep paying down the debt. Secondly, put more taxes on transnational corporations, take them off small business. Put them on imports from China, take them off American savers, investors and
workers. You change the tax system, and with this tariff revenue, you’ve got $200 billion you could cut taxes with. You bring home some of these troops from some of these foreign places, use much of that to build the military. The rest of it, cut taxes.

Source: Interview on MSNBC’s “Equal Time”
, Nov 2, 1999

Small Business Bill of Rights: 4% tax over $1 million

Buchanan will present a “Small Business Bill of Rights.” His plan would include the elimination of all federal taxes on the profits of small business, which has left small business owners with “a gigantic paperwork burden.” In its place, Buchanan called
for a flat 4% “revenue tax” on profits. However, the first $1 million in profits would not be taxed.

Source: Jerry Miller, Conservative News Service
, Jul 7, 1999

Cut capital gains tax to spur “risk investment”

Buchanan said his Small Business proposal would also include a 50% cut in the capital gains tax. Buchanan insisted the lower rate would encourage “risk investments,” critical to economic growth.

Source: Jerry Miller, Conservative News Service
, Jul 7, 1999

Abolish inheritance taxes to keep businesses in the family

Buchanan said he would propose the abolition of all federal inheritance and death taxes, which now stand at 55%. He told his audience that the elimination of death taxes would help keep a business in the family, even after the passing of the founder,
while retaining the death tax could destroy a small business, perhaps just as it is being built.

Source: Jerry Miller, Conservative News Service
, Jul 7, 1999

Flat 16% tax on earnings over $35,000, plus import tariffs

The Buchanan tax plan:

Exempt the first $35,000 of income, then reduce the taxes on the remainder to a flat 16% rate

Dump our tyrannical 7 million-word tax code

The Era of Big Government is alive & well - this year the federal tax bill will total $1.8 trillion. Enough is enough. With the zeal of our patriot forefathers at Boston Harbor, we must dump our tyrannical 7 million-word tax code & reclaim our economic
liberty. This exploitative tax system does not need reform; it needs to be ripped out by the roots. The Buchanan tax plan will restore our resource base, reclaim citizen control of national fiscal policy, & reduce the federal tax collection bureaucracy.

Budget surplus and import fees go to tax cuts

Part of America’s budget surplus must go to pay down the national debt, and preserve Social Security. The rest should be returned in tax cuts -- to workers, families, savers and small businesses. Every dollar gained from trimming foreign aid and taxing
imports -- the same as products made in the U.S.A. -- should go for tax cuts at home.